With the severe drought conditions in the district taking the consumption of water supplied by tankers to new heights, authorities have stepped in to tame the tanker mafia which conducts the business by flouting norms.
Aimed at ensuring the quality of water being supplied by the tanker operators in Kottayam, District Collector P.K.Sudheer Babu has made it mandatory for those supplying drinking water in the district to have the licence and registration from the Kerala Commissionerate of Food Safety.
The operators should be in possession of the report from an authorised lab certifying the quality of water, besides documents showing the capacity of the tanker.
The Collector has issued a directive to local bodies to ensure that the tankers collect water only from sources certified by the Food Safety Department. He has entrusted the Deputy Director of Panchayat to monitor the construction of check-dams and cleaning up of waterbodies to ensure water supply in summer.
In the wake of reports about the high-lying areas in the eastern side already reeling under severe water shortage, urgent steps have been initiated to treat the water accumulated in stone quarries and distribute it as drinking water. As part of it, the local bodies have been directed to hand over details of the abandoned stone quarries in their respective jurisdiction.
71 samples sent
Following apprehensions expressed over the quality of water supplied through tankers, the Food Safety Department recently carried out a two-day drive in the district and collected samples from various tanker operators. The samples have been sent to the food testing laboratory in Pathanamthitta for bacteriological and chemical analysis.
“As many as 71 samples have been sent and the results are expected in a couple of weeks. If the water in public sources is found substandard, then the agencies concerned will be intimated before tapping that source again. If the water distributed by the private agents is found contaminated, stern legal action will be initiated against them,” said Unnikrishnan Nair, Assistant Commissioner of Food Safety, Kottayam .
Followed by the fall in water levels in major rivers, the groundwater level has dropped at an alarming rate.
